Under the Glaring Sun
by Lady Mage
Summary: ON HOLD. I've always wondered what happened to the magic school Alanna and Ali Mukhutab founded in wwrlam. So I decided to write a DaineNeal story, in which they go to the desert and encounter a new kind of magic. A kind they've never encountered before.
1. In Which Much is Revealed

**A/N: Welcome one and welcome all to _Under the Glaring Sun_! I suppose I should add a few disclaimers in here… Daine, Neal, Kel, Dom, Numair, Varice, et cetera, do not belong to me. So basically, any characters you recognize from the books, are Tammy's (lucky dog ;D) Only the plot and a few made-up characters are mine.**

**And now, _magewhisperer_ proudly presents:**

**Under the Glaring Sun: Chapter one**

She woke up to the sun glaring through the windows. Why hadn't Numair woken her up sooner? She rolled over in bed to say good morning to him, and fell off of the sofa she had been sleeping on. Then it all came back …

_It all started yesterday when she had tried to kiss him like she always did, that he finally said something…_

"_Daine, you're too young, and I'm too old! It would never work out! Besides, I love some one else and—" Here Numair stopped and frowned_

_Daine looked at him enraged. "Why did you use me; say you loved me, if you really didn't? Why did you say you 'needed to be with me'? Why did you do this?"_

"_Daine, I-"_

"_Who is the person you love, anyways? Who is the bitch, has she gone to bed with you already?" Daine waited for his answer; fuming_

_Numair muttered "Varice" _

"_Varice?" Daine asked- really angry now "She's married for crying out loud! What do you expect her to do? Hmm? Carry on behind her husband's back? All though she probably would…she's got no sense of honor! Get out of my sight! I don't want to ever see you again!"_

_Numair stormed out, and went to pack his bags for Carthak _I'll go to where the real women are_, he said to himself. He threw everything that he had of hers out the window. First went the focus, with her hair, then went the picture she had drawn of him, and lastly her shirt that she had never taken back after she fell from the cliff in the Divine Realms. Then he went to talk to the captain of a boat that was leaving for Carthak that afternoon._

_Little did they know that a street boy had picked up Daine's things that Numair had thrown out the window, and taken them to his master._

**A/N: I am really sorry it's so short! And I really feel bad about having to make Numair a bad guy, but I had to if this is going to be Daine/Neal. But it may take a while to pick up speed. So what do YOU think? Hint hint, nudge, nudge There's a little button down there... :D **


	2. Finding a Traveling Companion

Daine rolled off the couch and got dressed, washing hurriedly, then ran to make arrangements for food and supplies. She needed to get away from the palace, and was going to go to the desert to get away from people. The only catch was that she needed a traveling companion…

She headed into the mess for some pottage and orange juice and sat down next to Keladry of Mindelan, Lady Knight, and her husband Domitan of Masbolle (A/N: can someone who has the books check if that is spelled right? Thanks! On wiv ze storie:-D). "Why hello, Daine" Keladry said "How's everything going?" "Not so good, Kel… Numair left me for Varice and went to Carthak" "That's horrible!" Dom said "Is there anything we can do?" "Well, I'm going to go to the Southern Desert, but I need a companion…even though the Bazhir are peaceful nowadays, there are still the hillmen" Daine said. "Hmm…" Dom thought then turned to Kel. "Meathead is going to visit the Bazhir in a couple weeks or so. Maybe he could leave sooner and go with you… Does that sound all right?" "Sure" Daine said, getting up to turn in her eating utensils. "Neal certainly is fun to be around… don't worry about asking him, though. I'll ask him myself" Daine left the mess, thinking hard. She did not see Dom wink at Kel and hear Kel tell Dom to not get ahead of himself.

Daine was so lost in her thoughts that she wasn't watching where she was going, and ran headlong into the very person she had been going to see, and fell down on top of him. She got up, not realizing it was him, mumbled an "I'm sorry" and was about to continue on her way, when his hand stopped her.

She looked at Neal and he said "Why hello! Fancy meeting you here!" he let go of her and started gesturing his hands wildly. She put her other hand on his arm to stop him; and he stopped and suddenly looked at her seriously. "Yes?" he said. Suddenly she found herself staring into his green eyes and began thinking thoughts she didn't want to think, so soon after Numair swirled through her head.

She gathered her thoughts and said in a rush "Wouldyouliketobemytravelingcompanion?"

"Ok" Neal prompted "I didn't hear a word of that. Could you say it again, but slower this time?"

"Would you like to be my traveling companion?" Daine repeated, slower this time

"Wait a sec. First of all, where is it you are going, why are you going, and when are you going?" Neal asked, flattered, but puzzled

"I'm going to the Southern Desert because I want to get away from court life, and I want to leave tomorrow or the next day. Dom said that I should go with you because you were going there anyways, in a couple weeks, but that you could just go sooner" she looked at him, hoping that he wasn't playing with her and that he would say yes.

"But what about Numair?" Neal asked, wondering why **he** was being asked, but thrilled all the while.

Daine drew in a shaky breath and said "Well…" she trailed off _oh dammit, she would have to tell him…_Slowly, she did "Numair left me for Varice. He's in Carthak now, and carrying on with the bitch behind her husband's back"

He fumed, then realizing that this was not what she wanted him to do, patted her on her back. This was too much for Daine, and she began to cry, and let all her pent up emotions out. "Why couldn't he have stayed? Why did he say he loved me every night if he didn't? Why did he carry on with me if he loved someone else? Why did he even bother to keep up the ruse? I would have married him! Damn! Life is so confusing!"

Slowly, tentatively, he put his arms around her, holding her while she sobbed into his shirt.

**A/N: Please Review- reviews make my day. J This way I know what to do better in the future. Also, feel free to e-mail me if you would like update notices. Or, you can e-mail me if you just want a pen-pal… I'd love to do that.**


	3. With Assassins

**Reviews:**

**Silverflutearia- thanks!**

**Ami nevva Keladry 4eva- see? told you I'd update today! lol**

**i luv ur stories- i tried e-mailing you, but it didn't work. Am I in your address book? **

**Thanks everyone for reviewing-**

**A/N: So, you've been waiting, and since you were all so _patient_ (LoL) here's the next chapter:**

**Chapter Three: With Assassins**

"Have you anything to report, Squirreltail?" asked Rafna, the assasins' leader

"Well, master" the boy called Squirreltail blubbered "Me 'n Axna found several things in an ally…" he trailed off

"Speak up boy! What did you find?" Rafna leaned forward on his throne-like chair

"Well, we found a pretty bracelet with some hair and a picture inside. 'nder the picture thar war some marks" Squirreltail cowered under his master's cold stare

"And may I ask what you did with this bracelet?" Rafna asked

"Um, Axna sold it at the market to a Hillman for two gold nobles" Squirreltail stuttered

"Bring her before me!" Rafna ordered to a member of the guard, Lenra "She must be whipped to death immediately!"

"But master!" Squirreltail tried to save his friend

"Enough!" Rafna bellowed "She must be brought to me without delay! Fetch her!" Lenra left to bring her…

That evening Rafna poured wine for a nervous Lenra. "I'm not sure if you know why I had you brought before me" he said

"No master" Lenra had no idea why he was being so singled out.

"I want to tell you about that locket that Axna sold to the Hillmen. I had been traveling in the Divine Realms…"

Lenra blinked. He knew that the chief had traveled far, but he had no idea that he had traveled that far. However, he stopped the train of thoughts in time to hear what Rafna was saying

"… and after I came out of the chaos vent, I saw a woman fall off the cliff right next to where I was standing. I followed her, thinking that she was a chaos being… well back to the story. Her fall was broken by several trees, and she fell into a part of the river that, fortunately for her, was not too deep. She stepped out of the river only to be caught in a spindren trap.

"I remember watching, frightened, as she changed from human to bear to bird, trying to get away. Soon three spindrens came and started talking about how they were so lucky that she had fallen into their trap, and how Ozorone would give them slaves for centuries and so forth." Rafna paused

"It was then that I knew who she was, and I was vastly disappointed, for I had thought that she was on our side. Now I knew her to be an enemy. The spindrens were about to drag her off, when a mage came to her rescue. He made all the spindrens go away, and he began passionately kissing the woman he had rescued, and proceeded to say things like 'Magelet, I'd thought I'd lost you'. As you can imagine, several mushy scenes followed.

"This woman, it turned out, is the very one who had smashed the Carthaki palace to smithereens. She also went on to destroy Ozorone completely, and to have our mistress Usoae banished to the realms of chaos. This woman and this mage are Numair Salamin and Daine Sarrasri." Rafna finished speaking, an odd expression on his face.

Lenra looked at Rafna, puzzled. What was wrong with the chief? Had Rafna loved Daine at one point? It was rumored that they had come from the same town…

"But what about the bracelet?" Lenra asked "I thought that was what you were going to tell me about that"

"Oh. That. The bracelet is a focus. Daine's. That's how long lankin found her. He had a focus with her hair, her name, and a picture of her. That's the thing that Axna sold to the Hillmen for a little bit of money.

With that focus, we could bring Daine and Numair down in an instant. For he made it of her. With them gone, Usoae could take over the world and the all the realms in the universe. After all, they were the ones who stopped her last time…" Rafna sat still for a minute thinking

"The reason I called you in here is this and am telling you secrets is this: I need you to go to the Hillmen. Become one of them, and learn their ways. Then you will turn on them, and take back what we need so we can bring Daine and Numair down. You will be my spy. You leave in the morning. Go pack."

Lenra sat up for quite some time that night, thinking over what the chief had said and did not notice that Squirreltail had left his bed…

**A/N: Please Review!**


End file.
